"Kugisaki! Get the hell over here!" He yells, digging his fingers into Fushiguro's wrist, then his neck when he feels no pulse. He barely notices as Kugisaki casually sidles up next to him, tossing her hammer in the air and catching it again with a grin.

"That was insane! Gojo-Sensei is gonna be so pissed he missed it. Did you see how I..." She trails off as she takes in the situation at hand, eyes darting between Yuuji's shellshocked expression and their limp classmate strewn across the floor. "Oh, shit."

"Yeah, oh shit! Can you call Gojo-Sensei? Or actually, Ieiri-San?"

Ignoring him, Kugisaki kneels on Fushiguro's other side. "He doesn't have a pulse?" She questions, suddenly sounding deadly serious. "Okay, we need to do CPR. Gojo-Sensei should be here soon to pick us up and he can teleport us to the school, but we can't just leave Fushiguro like this."

Yuuji's jaw drops. "Wha—CPR!? I don't know CPR!"

Glaring, Kugisaki starts to gently shift Fushiguro so there's space around him, positioning them all so Yuuji is kneeling beside his head and Kugisaki is beside his chest. "You are so useless! Jeez, just do the rescue breaths! I'll do compressions."

Rescue breaths? Yuuji thinks dumbly. Like from Jurassic Park? He tries to think back to the scene from the movie, and vaguely recalls one character pinching the other's nose and then blowing air into their mouth to help them start breathing again.

Mouth to mouth. Him, breathing into Fushiguro's mouth. Yuuji's mouth, where his lips are, pressed against Fushiguro's mouth, where his lips are.

He looks at Fushiguro's slack face, jaw hanging slightly open and eyes shut peacefully, as if he were sleeping. His gaze moves across Fushiguro's features; his messy bangs hiding the cut on his forehead, his eyelashes coated with dust (did he always have such long eyelashes?), his potentially broken nose...

His lips, bitten red and raw (easily explained, since Yuuji happened to notice that Fushiguro bites his lips a lot when he's concentrating on summoning his shikigami), covered in a thin sheen of drying spit.

Kugisaki wants Yuuji to...give him rescue breaths? Like, right now? Would that be like kissing?

Yuuji hasn't kissed anyone before.

Oblivious to Yuuji's internal turmoil, Kugisaki readies herself on slightly spread knees, leaning over Fushiguro and lining the palm of her hand up with his sternum, her other hand folding over the top of the first. "Okay, I'll do thirty compressions, then you give two breaths. Okay? Make sure you pinch his nose, and we have to watch to make sure his chest rises or there could be something blocking his airway."

Still processing, Yuuji just nods. Kugisaki seems satisfied as her small frame hovers over Fushiguro's and she starts pressing violently and rhythmically down on his chest, singing some western song under her breath that Yuuji can't make out. He doesn't really think it's the time for singing, but who's he to question her process? He's just glad she knows what the hell to do in this situation.

Snapping back to the moment, he realizes he has like thirty seconds before he needs to do his part.

Before he needs to...give mouth to mouth. To Fushiguro. Fushiguro, with his stupidly red lips (why are they so glossy?) and his gorgeous eyes that Yuuji already misses dearly.

This wouldn't count as a kiss, right? He doesn't want his first kiss to be with an unconcious Fushiguro. Unconcious being the key word.

Because, in the small amount of time while Kugisaki repeatedly presses her entire bodyweight into Fushiguro's chest, it occurs to him that he doesn't think he's all that opposed to his first kiss being Fushiguro, of all people.

Honestly, maybe it would be good if his first kiss was his best friend. Fushiguro probably wouldn't make fun of him for it. No, he'd say something like "Why are you so worried about it? It's just a kiss" and then he'd put his delicate, strong hand on Yuuji's jaw and pull him in and—

Okay, he's getting distracted. Kugisaki is looking at him pointedly, as if to signal that it's almost his turn. Annoyingly, his palms start sweating, feeling clammy as they go to position themselves on Fushiguro's face, one under his chin to tilt his head back and the other pinching his nose (yep, 100% broken).

Has Fushiguro had his first kiss yet? Surely not. Who would he have kissed? He never mentioned anyone to Yuuji. Sure, they've only known each other a few months, but Yuuji likes to think they've bonded quite a lot. Dying in front of someone and then coming back to life tends to bring people together. Maybe. Well, that's what Gojo told him, anyway.

Kugisaki is counting down her final compressions, five, four, three...

Sucking in a breath, Yuuji leans over Fushiguro. His body casts a shadow across the other boy's face, which is ironic, in some way or another.

Then, with an exhausted sigh, Kugisaki leans back and gestures for him to act.

He nearly freezes entirely, lips an inch away from Fushiguro's, before his panic about Fushiguro literally being dead reignites and he's messily smashing his mouth down.

If this does count as a kiss, it's nothing like the movies.

Nothing lights on fire within him, there are no butterflies, his foot doesn't pop up behind him. Perhaps the sheer panic is suppressing all those things, he isn't sure, but it's not much of a kiss either way.

Fushiguro's lips aren't yet stiff, blood still colors them, but they aren't, like, kissing him back or anything.

No, this definitely isn't a kiss. If it was, Fushiguro would be awake (alive), and he would be cradling Yuuji's jaw or touching his hair or something. And Kugisaki would not be here, not for their first kiss.

Fuck, he thinks he wants to kiss Fushiguro. Like, for real.

He finishes pushing two breaths into Fushiguro's mouth and jolts back, blinking rapidly. Kugisaki immediately starts compressions again, but she shoots him an encouraging smile (weird, for her). "His chest rose, good job! Now, we just repeat that until Gojo gets here."

Right. Repeat it. Yuuji can do that.

Yuuji's about to go in for his third round of breaths when Gojo finally shows up, much to the students' relief. Seeming no where near concerned enough considering Fushiguro is literally dead, Gojo grabs the trio and instantly teleports them back to Jujutsu High, right into Ieiri's morgue/infirmary (really, quite a morbid location when Yuuji thinks about it).

After informing her of the situation, he and Kugisaki watch as a (only slightly) startled Ieiri immediately begins to work on Fushiguro, ushering them all out the door with a tired scolding, explaining that she needs room to work.

The three of them sit in the hall, Yuuji and Kugisaki criss cross on the floor leaning against each other's backs, and Gojo on a bench that seems to serve little purpose considering the small population on campus. He really seems quite chill about Fushiguro being dead. He's whistling, for Tengen's sake.

Hours or maybe minutes pass as Yuuji internally crumbles over the entire situation. Was it his fault? Could he have exorcised the curse before it got to Fushiguro? Was that a kiss? Was he punching hard enough? Could they have worked better as a team? Seriously, did that count as a kiss? Was the curse mis-graded? If it counts, what does that mean? Would Fushiguro even want to kiss him for real? What if Fushiguro's never kissed anyone before either? What if Fushiguro's actually dead, and Yuuji's rescue breaths are the only kiss he'll ever get?

Before he can devolve any further into a puddle of anxiety, the door to the infirmary creaks open. Both him and Kugisaki jump to their feet, while Gojo just chuckles. Sighing, Ieiri gestures for them to enter.

"He's fine," she starts as they rush past her. "He'll need some rest but you guys actually did a pretty good job with the CPR. His heart definitely stopped at some point, but it was started again by the time you got here. Impressive work."

Yuuji ignores her as he sprints to the gurney holding Fushiguro's noticeably less still body.

"Fushiguro! Are you okay?" He blurts out, only just stopping short of climbing into bed beside the other boy so he could hear his heart beating and lungs expanding himself.

Wincing, Fushiguro nods. "I'm fine, now. Ieiri-San told me you brought me back to life. Thanks for that."

"I was there too, actually I did most of the work..." Kugisaki grumbles, but neither of them acknowledge her for the moment. Instead, they just stare at each other.

Wow, it's crazy how much he missed Fushiguro's eyes over the past however many minutes since the fight ended.

Finally, Fushiguro breaks eye contact to look at Kugisaki, who's got a death grip on one of his hands. "Yes, thank you for not letting me die, Kugisaki."

Scoffing, she releases Fushiguro's hand and turns away. "Whatever, it was nothing. It would be nice if you could stop almost dying all the time, though."

"I'll try," Fushiguro snidely calls out as she saunters back into the hallway, please by the sufficient evidence of Fushiguro no longer being dead. As she goes, Fushiguro turns back to Yuuji, smiling softly. "Seriously, thank you."

Yuuji can feel his face heat at the sincerity in the words, and once he notices it, it only burns more. "Uh, yeah. I mean, no problem. It would be inconvenient—not inconvenient, that sounds cold. I just, uh. It would be bad. If you died. That would be bad. Very much not cool, actually."

Chuckling (barely, since Kugisaki probably broke some ribs), Fushiguro tilts his head. He tugs Yuuji closer by his elbow. "Very much not cool, huh?"

"Right," Yuuji gulps. "Not cool at all."

Again, he pulls Yuuji even closer, until Yuuji's practically leaning his entire torso over the bed. "You know what's really not cool?"

"What?"

Wow, their faces are really close together all of the sudden. When did that happen? There's barely an inch of space, just like before the rescue breaths.

"I wasn't even awake for our first kiss," Fushiguro drawls, gaze shifting between Yuuji's eyes and his lips. "You stole it."

Dumbfounded, Yuuji can only gape. "You—I—What?"

Fushiguro doesn't answer. At least, not verbally. He just closes the meager gap between them, and then they're kissing.

This is most definitely a kiss. For sure. Holy shit, is it a kiss.

It's nothing more than the pressing of lips against each other, extremely chaste, all things considered, but it's leagues better than the rescue breaths.

For one thing, Fushiguro is awake (and alive). For another, he's not only kissing Yuuji back, he was the one to initiate.

Yuuji only realized he wanted to kiss Fushiguro maybe an hour ago, but he's already 100% sure he wants to do it again. He feels it all, the fire lighting, the butterflies swirling, the foot popping.

They stay like that, softly moving their lips in tandem, for a few more seconds before Fushiguro pulls back (because no way in hell was Yuuji going to stop on his own).

"There, much better," Fushiguro whispers, eyes still shut.

Megumi's never been one to make a big deal about his birthday, but Tsumiki loves—loved birthdays, or any reason to celebrate and eat too many sweets, and so Megumi had suffered through them for her sake. When Satoru took them in (took them in is being generous, he thinks; he was barely eighteen, fresh off losing Suguru and entirely incapable of taking proper care of himself, not to mention a pair of abandoned children, one with the weight of a thousand year old familial curse on his shoulders and the other so dedicated to filling the void of their parents that she'd worked herself to the bone to keep them afloat), he'd made it a point to spend their birthdays with them. His parents had never really bothered to make anything important out of his own birthday, other than forcing him to partake in the traditional clan rituals and accept lavish, pointless gifts he never asked for.

He hadn't wanted that for them. For Megumi, in particular. Tsumiki was a lovely child, easy to please, but Megumi was never so simple. His first birthday under Satoru's care was a mess, to say the least (he never made the mistake of inviting all of Megumi's classmates again).

If it was up to Megumi, the day would be like any other. Maybe he'd have some cake, just to appease Tsumiki, but that was hard for Satoru to accept. Coming from a childhood where birthdays were seen as nothing more than a guilded checkmark before he would assume his role as clan head, he simply couldn't understand why any kid wouldn't want what extravagence and attention he was offering them. Cake should be expected, the most basic aspect of a birthday. Why wouldn't Megumi want more? Why wouldn't he trust Satoru enough to ask for it?

Thinking back, that was a common theme for him and Megumi. Misunderstandings, he means. Perhaps he was simply too stuck in his ways to really see Megumi's point of view, or perhaps Megumi was willfully stubborn about it because he enjoyed seeing Satoru get flustered when his attempts at bonding were rebuked. Perhaps, Megumi, with his dark hair and tendency to put Satoru in his place without remorse, just reminded him too much of someone he hadn't given enough attention to, and he's been desperate to avoid following the same path ever since.

He likes to think he did the best he could, but look where all his efforts got them.

The image of Megumi—no, Sukuna, wearing Megumi's skin, grinning with a malice he's never seen on the face that still has hints of baby fat on it, the cheeks he used to pinch and prod when Megumi would get in a mood, the teeth he saw grow in after tying floss to a doorknob to remove the old ones, it will surely haunt him through death.

So, he sits here, alone, slicing up a cake that's not nearly sweet enough for him because he'd ordered it months ahead of time, as usual, with Megumi's tastes in mind.

It's likely that Yuuji would come, if he asked, but Satoru doesn't even know if he's aware of the significance of the date (when do new friends think to mention birthdays?), and if he isn't then Satoru refuses to be the one to tell him. It's not a burden to celebrate Megumi's birthday, it never has been and never will be, but nonetheless it's a responsibility he has to bear alone.

He can't help but chuckle a little bit at his own melodrama. He's even got the lights turned off, for Tengen's sake.

Maybe he'd gone soft at some point, but can anyone blame him? Megumi is just so strong. So strong. He unlocked the capability of opening his domain years before Satoru had, and, with time, Satoru was sure that, no matter what happened to him, Megumi would be able to move forward. He'd be able to do what Satoru never could, surrounded by powerful friends and allies. Hell, eventually Megumi would probably have saved Yuuji from his death sentence out of pure spite, trying to prove he could succeed where Satoru failed.

But, now he can't do any of that, at least not for a while longer yet. And it's Satoru's fault. His fault that Megumi, barely even his own person yet, is spending his sixteenth birthday as the King of Curse's meatsuit.

Chewing on another bite of too-bitter cake, he sighs.

"sugar on my tongue" by eviebabie - i actually had to take a break from ao3 after reading this. it's quite popular so you might've read it already, but i can't make a fic rec list and not include it. genuinely made me feel ill (in the best way)

"Abnormalize" by Luna_Moon22 - so i said i had to take a break after the last one but i REALLY had to take a break after this one. the itafushi comes a little later and romance isn't the main focus of the fic really (it's more about love in any form conquering all), but in general this is SUCH a good fic. beware extreme EXTREME whump, but sosososo good

"in the dead of night (you're right by my side)" by machineryofnight (muppet_soo) - i just love it. adorable.

anything and everything by YearnWorm

anything and everything by hijinks_n_lowjinks

"Ballad of a Private Schooled Boy" by ThroneofMist (and the ongoing sequel) - very popular so you may have read it, but my absolute fave canondivergence itfs fic.

"instagram" by bomitea - just so silly and cute

"strolling in seven years late with starbucks" by doctorcakeray - just a hilarious concept

"question marks" by HamsterQinghua - also hilarious. my stupid son megumi in all his stupid glory (this author has a lot of cute, short oneshots actually!! i binged them all a while back lol)

there are oodles more that i LOVE but this is a good sampling! if you want some of my faves that are super popular, i can share those too! i'm also always searching for new fics, especially ones without much attention yet, so please send me recs if you have any :)

"I don't see why we needed to do all this," he mumbles, pushing off from the counter he was leaning against. "It's just graduation."

Tsumiki smacks his shoulder with a dish towel she'd been using to wipe off the snack table outside. "Hey, don't diminish your accomplishments! You know, I didn't manage to graduate on time. It's very impressive."

"That's because you were in a coma for two years," Megumi counters, quirking a brow.

His sister only pouts at him. "Ah, my little brother is always such a downer," she tuts, frowning at the way he lingers here, away from the guests. "Come on, have fun! Go play with your friends, it's your party!"

Even after all these years she still manages to treat him like he's a child. He purposefully intensifies his glower so he doesn't acidentally start grinning like an idiot, to which she only frowns back. However, the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth gives her away and allows Megumi enough time to fend off her attack, batting away her hands as she tries to muss up his hair. After putting up a customary fight, he lets her get a lick in and doesn't protest as she pats his head like one might do to a toddler.

She'd stayed up half the night preparing all the snacks and food for the party and baking him a cake (espresso and dark chocolate flavored), and then she'd still woken up early to decorate the house (with them all back together, it no longer feels right to call it just Gojo's house) and backyard with an insane amount of streamers and balloons. When he'd come downstairs that morning, she'd been so excited to surprise him, and he didn't have the heart to play at being upset any more than he could wave away her concern for him on any other day. No, he would never take her presence in his life for granted again.

She shoos him off with a smile and a promise not to break out the baby pictures (they might only start at age five, but Gojo somehow managed to fill at least four binders, and Megumi is sure there are others hidden around the house as well), so he makes his way out to the backyard. Nobara and Yuuji are seemingly the only ones utilizing the bounce house judging by the cackles and screeches emmanating from it, but Megumi gives it a generous five minutes before Nobara gets annoyed at Yuuji's foolishness and whips out her nails, pops the bounce house, and loses Gojo's entire rental deposit.

He scans the yard, but before he can walk over to talk to Maki and Inumaki his feet are suddenly lifting off the ground. Gojo picks him up in a tight hug, nearly cracking a rib with the amount of strength he puts into it. "Gojo!" Megumi grunts into his guardian's shoulder, "Put me down right now!"

Gojo snickers but does as he's told, lightly dropping Megumi onto his feet and pretending to brush the dust off his shoulders. It's all a ruse, of course, as he wastes no time using Megumi's distractedness to pop a western-style graduation cap on his head, drape a sash around his neck, and snap a portrait photo of him, followed quickly thereafter by a selfie of them both. "They grow up so fast! My little graduate," he coos, wiping away a fake tear. He mimics speaking to an audience. "Top of his class, too! The second valedictorian in the family. It must be hereditary!"

Megumi shoves him away, but Gojo doesn't budge. He looks over at the bounce house, which seems to be collapsing in on itself (earlier than he'd predicted), and then at the back corner of the yard where Shoko is barely trying to hide her cigarette smoke. "Your graduating class only had two people, and mine only has three. It isn't all that hard to become valedictorian."

Waving Megumi's words off as if he hadn't heard them at all, Gojo draws him in for another hug. This one feels less performative than the prior as Gojo folds Megumi into his arms and rests his chin on Megumi's head. When he speaks again, his voice is barely louder than a whisper. "I'm seriously proud of you, kiddo. You're gonna do so many amazing things, I just know it."

Suddenly emotional and unwilling to let anyone see, Megumi returns the embrace. It's only graduation, but it is a little nice to have all the people he cares about in one place, all there to celebrate him, and to know it will happen all over again when Gojo and Tsumiki insist on throwing two more parties for Nobara and Yuuji each. Gojo's shirt muffles his response. A short "thanks" is about all he can muster.

Later that evening, after the food has been eaten, the cake has been cut, and the guests have been sent off with custom-made goodie bags (again, courtesy of Tsumiki), their little family of three sits around the dining room table. Gojo is poking at his fourth slice of cake while Tsumiki packs away any leftovers in some tupperware and Megumi goes through the various cards and gifts he'd recieved. Tomorrow, they'll all work together to take down the decorations and clean the house. Then, it'll be Gojo's turn to cook dinner, which means he'll be ordering way too much takeout, and he and Tsumiki have plans to start a rewatch of one of their favorite childhood cartoons.